Chapter Text
Gone.
You were gone.
Stabbed unexpectedly by a villager fueled on revenge, convinced that Miranda was responsible for the death of their child.
However, Mia failed to process how and why you were chosen to suffer for Miranda’s crimes.
If the two of you hadn’t argued that one night, would Mia have been able to prevent this all from happening?
Would you still be here standing with her, laughing about some stupid joke that Mia had shared?
How could she have changed this outcome? How could Mia have made it so that she wouldn’t be here right now, staring you down as you slept peacefully in your coffin?
Would the path had changed if Mia pushed past her fear of losing you, and had gone through with planning to kill Miranda from the very beginning, as soon as the rumors of you two being romantically involved with one another started?
Fueled with pure frustration and anguish, Mia clenches her fists so tightly that her nails dig into the palm of her hands. If she hadn’t been sobbing since the day she saw you lying so still in Miranda’s arms, she’s sure tears would spill out right from her burning eyes.
A sort of feral, wild energy courses through the brunette’s system when she finally musters up the strength to look away from you. Someone had to pay for taking you away from this life too soon. Mia was determined to burn this entire village to the ground if that’s what she had to do to satisfy her newfound craving for revenge. Everyone would feel the exact same pain that she was experiencing at this very moment.
The pain of having a loved one stripped away so suddenly, feeling as if something more could’ve been done to prevent their disastrous outcome.
Feeling as if you’re nothing without them.
And it’s then that Mia feels her heart disintegrate into nothing. Your words echoing thunderously in her ear.
”…For you to stand there, without having a single fucking clue to understand the pain of losing your own child…”
Mia roars, allowing her vexation to get the best of her. Thankful that everyone who attended your funeral has gone about the rest of their day, she swivels, and picks up the nearest vacant chair. The wooden frame shatters on impact, hitting the ground with an unimaginable force.
The brunette studies the ground, observing every piece that has scrambled along the ground. Her breathing is unstable and she wants nothing more than to cause further destruction to anything that lies in her path.
“Is all of this really necessary?”
Make that anyone that crosses her path.
“Don’t you fucking come near me.” Mia bares her teeth when she hears the click of Miranda’s heels grow louder.
“Come now, Mia.” The blonde responds, unthreatened by the other woman’s aura. “You know she wouldn’t want us bickering like this at her own funeral.”
“I said, don’t fucking come near me!” Mia repeats, taking a step back and pulling out a switchblade, pointing it right in Miranda’s direction.
At that, the headmistress stops. She glances down at the weapon that Mia holds, then back into Mia’s dark eyes.
“Put your toy away.” Miranda commands, her face twisting in annoyance. “I didn’t come here to pick a fight with you.”
As if the statement flies over her head, Mia takes another step back. Miranda takes note of her stance, her irritation furrowing when she sees how protective your friend stands in front of your corpse.
“It’s all your fault.” Mia’s voice is soft, but the anger that’s laced within it is strong and present. “It’s your fault that she’s dead.”
Miranda remains silent, which only makes Mia more irritable.
“Didn’t you fucking hear me!?” The brunette shrieks. “You fucking killed her! You promised me that you would keep her safe! And now look at her!” She motions over at you. “Look at what you’ve done to her, Miranda!”
“I said, put your toy away.” Miranda repeats, becoming more on guard with how much more threatening and unstable Mia has become.
“I should’ve fucking killed you the very first moment I met you!” Mia chuckles hysterically. “She’d still be alive. She’d still be here.”
Miranda remains silent as a troubled ache shoots through her chest when she digests Mia’s words. The blonde sighs, then takes a few cautious steps closer to the brunette who still points her blade, ready to attack at any moment.
“Perhaps you’re correct on that assumption.” Miranda states, keeping her voice ever so low as she scans over your resting body. “I… I did not expect things to take such a twisted turn so suddenly.”
Mia watches as Miranda juggles a flood of emotions that pains the inside of her being. There’s no doubt that she’s experiencing an extraordinary amount of grief, having to deal with both her daughter’s death and your own. But Mia can’t find it in her heart to sympathize with her, thinking that perhaps, this was the wake up call that Miranda needed to see the wrong in her actions.
“I only wanted things to return to how they were.” The headmistress’s voice cracks as she continues. “I was so close, within a mere width of a hair to perfecting everything for her, but then the villagers- those heathens!”
Miranda snarls, reaching over to place her palm on top of your cold, still hand. She gasps, holding back a flood of tears that attempt to escape down her face, and takes a shuddering breath to steady herself.
“I’m going to bring her back. Both her and our daughter.”
Mia’s eyes widen in disbelief at the statement. Miranda’s posture remains fragile, but her tone is filled with confidence.
“Seriously,” your friend questions, “you’re still focused on this whole reincarnation bullshit!?”
“I have no other choice but to believe that such a thing is possible.” Miranda turns, hesitantly parting from your sleeping frame to face the other woman. “I refuse to allow both my child and my soulmate to be torn away from me so easily. Not anymore.”
“What the fuck are you going on about?”
“You haven’t seen what I have, Mia.” Miranda continues. “The three of us, we’re bonded in ways you could never imagine. Cursed to be plagued in all of the lives we share.” She takes a step forward, then another. In response, Mia retreats by taking a few steps back.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to put an end to this, the overlapping cycle of misfortune and death that was bestowed upon us ever since the very first life where we had burned at that stake.”
Mia stares at the other woman in confusion, disbelief. “You’re fucking insane.” She grits her teeth and sets her jaw, resolve setting in her system. “Whatever it is you have planned, whatever devious schemes you and your cult are doing, I can’t allow you to continue with those endeavors.”
Without another word, Mia wastes no time as she adjusts the switchblade in her grasp and dives it deep down into Miranda’s chest.
The headmistress freezes, taking a stunned breath of air. She’s not given another second to analyze Mia’s actions before the brunette pulls the knife out from her form, causing a stream of blood to flow out freely from Miranda’s newly formed wound.
Expecting the blonde to fall to the ground in agony, Mia is highly disappointed when she remains on her two feet. Her expression turns into one of utter shock when multiple pairs of black wings spurt out from Miranda’s back, and the bleeding comes to a sudden stop after a few haggard breaths.
“Did you really think that would be enough to kill me?” Miranda taunts, although still frazzled by the murder attempt.
Mia, in a daze, goes to strike Miranda one more time, but the blonde deflects it, umarming Mia and twisting her arm so that the brunette faces away from her. The switchblade falls to the ground and Miranda smirks victoriously.
“Enough of these games.”
Mia struggles in Miranda’s grip, but can’t find a way to free herself without causing unnecessary damage to her body.
“Let me go, you freak!”
“Not until you understand entirely the situation that we seem to have found ourselves in.” Miranda whispers devilishly into the brunette’s ear. “I have the upper hand here, and I don’t think you’ve come to comprehend just what I’m capable of yet.”
“So, I’m going to prompt you once more.” Another tug on Mia’s arm when Miranda feels the other woman attempt to resist her. “She wouldn’t want us to be like this at her own goddamn funeral. So if you have any ounce of respect left for your late friend, you’d stand down and listen to what I have to offer!”
One last tug, and Mia can feel a burning pain shoot up through her upper body.
“Okay! Okay! I yield, I yield!” She shouts, finally finding relief when Miranda releases her harsh grip. She hesitantly takes a step away from the blonde, really taking in her new appearance.
Not only does your late spouse show off a supernatural set of black wings, six in total now that Mia can really get a good look at them, but her eyes… The cold blue ones that Mia was used to seeing were replaced by golden ones. Whatever experiment Miranda had done to herself, she somehow managed to make herself part bird.
“You’ve noticed the upgrades that I’ve bestowed upon myself.” Miranda smirks, fluffing up her wings to show them off. “Enchanting, isn’t it?”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“I’ve created a certain kind of serum- something that would alter our genetics and reward us with the gift of immortality.” The headmistress explains as she circles around your friend. “I was perfecting it for MC, and I was only mere minutes away from giving it to her when I found her and the villagers-!”
Cutting herself short, Miranda holds a hand to her mouth, no doubt holding back another set of tears. Mia stares at the woman, feeling a sense of empathy for her, unlike earlier. She’s sure the blonde had to have been hurting so deeply, unable to imagine the pain Miranda was truly experiencing.
But at the same time, in her own twisted way, she’s more than happy to know that Miranda was suffering. It was long overdue in Mia’s opinion.
“I chose to test it on myself first, and it granted me with this power.” Miranda starts again. “I can grant MC with the power of immortality, but I need both her and my daughter back on this plane of existence with me first.”
“Miranda…” Mia sighs, distraught and completely drained from everything that’s spiraled. “Please, let them both rest in peace.” She begs. “You can’t keep going on thinking that you can bring back the dead. You’re going to drive yourself insane.”
“You don’t understand!” The blonde shouts, her wings extending in full length. “I am this close to finding a solution to all of this!” She visibly shakes, adrenaline coursing through her veins. “All I need is extra assistance.”
“No.” Mia says, immediately understanding where Miranda is heading with her nonsense.
“I can make you immortal.” The headmistress offers to Mia’s retreating form. Smiling triumphantly when she sees the brunette stop in her tracks.
“Don’t you dare involve me in any of your cult shenanigans.” Mia spits. “It’s the very same thing that caused MC’s death.”
“Very well.” Miranda comments. “Though, I’m sure she would’ve loved to have found you standing beside her when she wakes and comes to her senses.”
Mia turns even more at the other woman’s words, and it’s then that Miranda knows that she has Mia right where she wants her.
“Just imagine,” the blonde muses, floating over to your sleeping frame and looking delicately down at you, “how disappointed she would be knowing that you chose to completely abandon her, gave up on her even. Her life long friend, gone, without ever having the chance to apologize for her wrong doings, without getting the chance to make amends.”
“You’re wicked.” Mia seethes. “So fucking wicked, you know that?”
“I’ve been told before, yes.”
Mia clenches her teeth before finally going over her options in her mind, ultimately coming to a conclusion.
“You promise you’ll bring her back?” Mia asks, stepping beside Miranda and looking down sorrowfully at your dead body. “Everything about her. Mind, body, soul… Everything.” She finds herself practically begging.
“It’s what I intend to do.”
”Promise me.”
Even Miranda herself is taken back by the resolve in Mia’s tone. However, it shows her desperation, her willingness to comply.
“I promise.”
Mia nods, satisfied with your lover’s answer. She turns, a determined expression glazing across her face as something dark encompasses her chest. “Tell me what I have to do.”
Miranda grins, placing a hand on your friend’s shoulder, knowing that despite their differences, they both long to have you back in their lives, and they will stop at nothing to ensure your safe return.
Because without you, they are nothing.
“Welcome to the Cult of Eva, Mia.”